Privacy concerns are escalating, due in part to the rise of ever smaller personal “stealth” video recording devices such as Google Glass™ and other head-mounted displays (HMDs), as well as the emergence of civilian drones, now easily available to consumers. Some establishments address this privacy issue by banning HMDs from their premises, although this may cause problems for some who make use of HMDs with prescription lenses. However, the problem of selectively jamming the recording of visible light reflected from physical objects is unsolved.
Existing solutions to the problem of blocking photography of individuals or objects typically require jamming photography using flashes of visible light. This can be disruptive to the environment in general and to individuals in the environment who are not performing recordings. As an example, consider a scenario in which a user is in a semi-public setting, wearing a recording HMD. Much of the scene may be free from concerns, but person 1 and statue 2 should not be recorded. One solution is to jam the recording of these objects. Jamming recordings such as photographs and video requires the ability of the jammer to interfere with the recording device in such a way that the jammed object cannot be recorded, but this jamming may also interfere with the recording of other objects and people in the vicinity.
Furthermore, while jamming is simple when the object emits a jamming signal on a unique channel that is to be recorded (e.g., radar, radio, etc.), it causes problems when the traditional jamming signal would interfere with recording of an otherwise normal day-to-day, public sensory environment and signal (such as visible light and photography). In other words, jamming recording may work, but it is not selective and it may have the side effect of blocking recordings being performed by others, a source of annoyance.
As one interesting example, “Google Glass anti-glasses” developed by Japan's National Institute of Informatics obscure people's facial features when seen on cameras using infrared technology. This solution is specific to faces and does not utilize a reflectance model to predict the image captured by a camera before it is captured. The New York Times, in an article by Jenna Wortham published on Jun. 29, 2013, reports on “stealth wear,” clothing and accessories that protect a wearer from being recorded. Stealth wear includes hoodies and cloaks made from reflective fabrics and a purse fitted with an electronic device that reacts to a camera's flash with lights so bright that the subject's face is obscured.
There is a need for a method and system to overcome the above-stated shortcomings of the known art.